Leonardo DiCaprio is set to play Billy Milligan, a man who claimed to have 24 personalities and was treated at Athens Mental Health Center, otherwise known as The Ridges, in an upcoming film.
Oscar-nominated actor Leonardo DiCaprio is set to produce and star in upcoming film The Crowded Room, playing Billy Milligan, infamous for using the defense of multiple personalities for violent crime in court, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Milligan was a patient who underwent care at the Athens Mental Health Center, otherwise known as The Ridges. Milligan was born on February 14, 1955 and died December 12, 2014 at the age of 59.
The film is set to be produced by New Regency, the studio responsible for movies such as Gone Girl and Birdman, and Milligan is a role “(DiCaprio) eyed for nearly 20 years,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Milligan is known for being the first person to use multiple personalities as a defense in court for the kidnap and rape of three women in the area surrounding Ohio State University's campus, according to a previous Columbus Dispatch report. The verdict found him not guilty by reason of insanity. Milligan was recorded to have 24 different personalities. A book was also written about him, The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes, which explored Milligan's life and multiple personality disorders.
Milligan worked with David Caul of the Athens Mental Health Center. According to a Dispatch article, reports were filed “of Milligan faking an overdose, of Milligan selling his artwork and buying a car, of a party at the hospital. An Athens County Common Pleas judge, after hearing testimony that Milligan was a security risk, transferred him to Lima State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if producers — and DiCaprio himself — would be filming at The Ridges property.
“I want to know if they are going to film at The Ridges,” said Brittany Zagray, a junior studying early childhood education. “I just don’t know if the university will let them. If they do, when (is it going to be) so I can go stalk the set?”
Marc Golsmith, a senior studying journalism, was in Mexico over spring break and found out the news when he arrived back to Athens.
“All I know is (DiCaprio) is playing someone from Athens Mental Health Center," Golsmith said. I feel like Athens has always tried to push (that history) under the rug but I think it’s really cool that it’s getting some screen time.”
Jessica Terry, a graduate student at Franklin University, heard about the film from her boyfriend, Neil Arehart, an OU graduate student.
“I was excited because we drive up (to The Ridges) and look around,” Terry said. “And Leo is one of the top actors in the industry playing this role.”
A two-hour documentary was created about Milligan called Billy in 1986, where in an excerpt that is on YouTube, Milligan, age 29, said: “I was sent to Athens on a court order because Athens is considered not only think tank and a learning center, but they had a specialist down there called Dr. David Caul who is renowned in treating people with my kind of illness. His job was to restore me to a reality-sense and to integrate me back into the community as a working, productive citizen and a taxpayer."
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UPDATE 3/10/15: It is rumored, according to The Mirror, that Grammy-winner Rihanna will be portraying one of Billy Milligan’s victims in The Crowded Room. Rihanna’s filmography includes the role of Petty Officer Cora ‘Weps’ Raikes in Battleship, herself in This Is The End, “Moon Goddess” in Annie, and the voice of Gratuity "Tip" Tucci in the animated film Home, to be released later this March. The film’s producer and lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Rihanna have been rumored to have been dating, which has been denied by DiCaprio’s PR, according to the article.
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